No Matter What
by ash7
Summary: From the same orphanage, Sakura was adopted by the poverty-stricken Kinomotos while Syaoran was taken in by the wealthy Lis. Years later, the spirited Sakura becomes a maid for the womanising Syaoran. S+S :D


Brrr.. I'm bored. When I'm bored, I tend to do crappy stuff. So you have to suffer another crappy story of mine D I deleted two of my stories, **What You See** and **Nothing is Fair because I don't like the way they turned out to be. **Teach Me** is put on hold until… sometime later :D Ark my socks are cold ;_;**

**Disclaimer: **I like eggsss :D –random thought-

No Matter What

By: ash 

**Prologue: ****Separate Ways******

Seven-year-old Sakura swung her legs as she shifted on her chair, blowing bubbles in her juice. She heard a loud commotion from the door and looked up, spring green eyes wide.

A boy with unruly chestnut hair was being dragged into the dining room of the orphanage. His eyes were cold and narrowed and he dragged his feet on the tiled floor in an attempt to stop himself. Mrs. Tan pulled him with her, trying to be gentle at the same time and sat him down on the chair next to Sakura.

The boy turned to look at her before glaring and looking down at his feet.

"I don't like this place."

Sakura quietly picked up her glass of juice and made her way to the living room, sensing that she was not supposed to be listening to their conversation.

In the living room however, over the din the other orphans made, she could still hear the conversation between Mrs Tan and the amber-eyed boy.

Mrs Tan sighed and tried to say it gently. "You may not like it now, but we will take good care of you here." How many times had she said that? She couldn't even count! True, the boy had probably suffered from trauma, but this was just too much.

He was silent, looking straight ahead, his lips pressed together in a thin line. Mrs Tan reached out to touch his arm gently, but he pulled away and glared at her.

"Syaoran… Syaoran, listen to me. I know I'm not your real mother, but here we're all your family. We…"

Syaoran's eyes met hers and she shuddered. They were cold as ice, and hard.

"I don't have a family anymore."

He turned away and stared ahead. Mrs Tan sighed, knowing he would not listen to her nor answer her questions. She got up, then bent down slightly.

"Call me if you need anything."

Syaoran said nothing, continuing to stare ahead, as though in a trance. Mrs Tan gave a loud sigh and stalked out of the room.

Sakura watched Mrs Tan walk towards her room, shoulders slumped. She got up, cup of juice still in hand, and made her way to the dining room. The boy was sitting on the chair, palms flat on the table, eyes narrowed. She climbed onto the chair next to him and looked at him. He did not even glance at her.

"Hello. I'm Sakura. And you are Syaoran, am I right?"

The boy kept silent. Sakura stirred the straw around in her glass of juice and looked at him.

"I'm sure you'll like it here."

Syaoran didn't answer.

"I didn't like it at first either. But it's a good place, the orphanage. You'll make lots of friends. And one day you might even get adopted."

Syaoran turned his head slowly and his eyes met her. Sakura shrunk back. His eyes were a brilliant shade of dark gold, and they were so… cold. He was still silent and Sakura was trembling under his gaze.

She got up hurriedly, taking up her glass with her but it slipped from her hand and crashed onto the ground, shattering into small pieces and cutting her hand in the process. Her eyes widened and she knelt down to collect the bigger pieces of broken glass. She stared at her cut hand and shut her eyes tightly when she saw the bright red liquid on her fingers.

"You should be more careful. Are you always this clumsy?"

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself looking at Syaoran. He was frowning slightly and was kneeling down in front of her. God she wanted to strangle him! She was fuming from his comment.

Suddenly, he reached into his shirt pocket and drew out a wrinkled blue handkerchief. He handed it to her, avoiding her questioning eyes. "It's not much, but here."

She did not take the handkerchief. Sakura was utterly surprised. First he was a jerk, and now he was offering her his handkerchief.

Syaoran made a frustrated sound and took her hand, wrapping her injured finger tenderly with the handkerchief. Then he looked away and got up. Sakura stood up beside him and looked at him.

"I don't want friends. I don't want to get adopted. I want my parents back." He told her softly.

"Where did they go?"

"They… died. I saw them die. They were killed by robbers. Father's head was chopped off. Mother was stabbed. I saw the blood on the floor."

Sakura's eyes widened at his words. He had seen them die! No wonder he was so sad.

Instinctively, she reached over and hugged him. His eyes widened but her embrace was warm and comforting and he soon realised that tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks.

He pulled away from her slowly and stared at her, open-mouthed. Her eyes were soft and sad, but she forced a smile onto her face.

"I'm Sakura. And you are Syaoran?

Her smile was encouraging and it stirred something within him. He couldn't help but smile at the girl.

"Yes, I am."

"I hope we'll be friends."

Syaoran looked at her. Her spring green eyes were trusting and her smile was radiant. He nodded slowly before looking away, almost bashfully.

Mrs Tan was leaning against the doorway. She had heard the crash and had rushed into the dining room to find Syaoran wrapping his handkerchief around Sakura's injured finger. She smiled at them and watched Sakura grin at the young boy before tugging his hand and pulling him out into the living room, waving at Mrs Tan.

~*~

Five months later…

Sakura smiled at Syaoran and announced.

"I know who I want to marry when I grow up."

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "But… We're only seven."

Sakura nodded. "But we need to plan for the future, Mrs Tan said. I'm planning for mine."

She looked around the crowded living room, and then back at him. "Guess who I want to marry?"

Syaoran had thought he saw her gaze linger on Matt. He growled quietly. Matt? With his best friend?

"Don't tell me it's Matt."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock as she turned slowly to look at him.

"Why would I want to marry Matt?" Her tone was one of utter surprise and disgust.

"Then who do you want to marry?"

She pursed her lips and looked straight at him.

"Why can't you guess?"

"I really have no idea, Sakura! Who?"

He was feeling strangely jealous.

Sakura rolled her eyes and leaned back in the sofa. "You, of course. You're my best friend and if we're married we can live together forever."

Syaoran stared at her as she continued rattling on. "And we can get the stork to bring a boy and a girl to us and then you can train the boy in all that kung fu shmung fu stuff and the girl can cook in the kitchen. And we'll live in a big house with a swimming pool so we can swim and then…"

Syaoran smiled softly at her and leaned back as well, listening to his best friend's chatter.

~*~

Two months later…

It was adoption day. The time of the year when foster-parents-wanna-bes strolled around the home, looking at the children and inspecting them like they were lab spicemens.

Sakura could hardly keep still and Syaoran could sense her excitement.

"I might get adopted, Syaoran!"

He studied her coolly. She was wearing a dress and her hair was neatly combed for once. She was smiling cheerfully and her eyes held such hope that his heart ached for her.

"I… I'm sure you will, Sakura. You'd make a good foster daughter."

Sakura turned to him, eyes shining. "You think?" Then she nodded to herself and pumped her fist in the air. "Yes, I will be the best foster daughter ever!"

Syaoran smiled fondly at her, that special smile her reserved only for her. "I'm sure of that."

~*~

Kinomoto Fujitaka sighed as he tried to push his way through the crowded house. He was poor, yet he was looking for a foster daughter. And he knew exactly why.

Nadeshiko had died exactly a month ago, while still bearing his second child. Both had died in a car accident. Kinomoto Touya, his 14-year-old son, had been looking forward to a baby sister, and had been devastated when he lost both his mother, and his sister. His son had been so lonely at home and Fujitaka wanted to adopt a little girl to brighten his son's life up.

He looked around the living room at all the orphans sprawled on the floor. There were short ones, tall ones, fat ones, skinny ones, fair ones, dark ones, pretty ones and ugly ones. His eyes rested on a little girl curled up in a corner with a chestnut-haired boy, talking animatedly to him. Her dress was hiked up to her hips, showing her pink shorts and her hair was in a mess.

He made his way over to her and stopped in front of her. He drew in a breath. She looked so much like Nadeshiko, the little angel. Her emerald eyes were just like his wife's. The girl had fair skin, auburn hair, sparkling green eyes and cherry red lips. She looked up at him when he knelt down in front of her.

"Hello." She smiled at him.

He looked at her. "Hello there. What's your name?"

She got up and stuck out her hand, pulling her dress down to cover her shorts. "I'm Sakura."

She peered at him. "You have dirt on your nose."

Syaoran's eyes twitched at his best friend's words but he heard the man chuckle. He watched them talk and sat silently, hoping, selfishly, that the man would't adopt Sakura and take her away from him.

But he did.

~*~

All the forms had been filled. Fujitaka loved the girl. She was everything he ever wanted. She was smart and innocent and bubbly. Sakura loved the man. He was gentle and fatherly and his eyes were filled with happiness.

Fujitaka was talking to Mrs Tan while Sakura was witting near her small bag with all her precious stuff in it. Syaoran was leaning against the wall next to her.

"So this is it! I got adopted, Syaoran!"

Syaoran glanced at his friend. She was so happy. He should be happy, but he wasn't. He felt strangely possessive. This man was taking Sakura way from _him_.

"Syaoran? Aren't you… happy?"

Sakura's voice came again. Syaoran sighed and turned to look at her. The expression on her face was one of disappointment.

He forced a small smile on his face. "I am. You'll be the best foster daughter, won't you?"

Sakura nodded and grinned again. "Yes I will! I'll come back when I'm older and I'll marry you, Syaoran. Wait for me?"

Syaoran stared at her pinky. He looked up at her, gazing into her eyes.

Then he intertwined his finger with hers. "I promise. And we'll have a son and a daughter."

"And a big house with swimming pools."

"And the son will learn kung fu and the daughter will cook."

Sakura nodded and laughed. How he'd miss her laughter

Fujitaka came by and smiled at the boy, then he took Sakura's hand.

"Time to leave Sakura. You do want to meet your big brother, don't you?"

Sakura nodded. Fujitaka bent down to take her bag, but she stopped him. She started rummaging through her bag and took out a pink notebook and handed it to Syaoran. She smiled.

"Goodbye Syaoran."

Syaoran took the notebook and looked down at it.

"…Good… Bye."

Sakura had taken Fujitaka's hand and they were starting to walk away when Sakura turned back and yelled "Remember the promise!"

Syaoran couldn't help but smile. "I will."

And they walked out.

Syaoran looked down at the notebook, and flipped the page open.

He smiled at the handwriting he knew so well.

**_Syaoran_****_ and I are going to get married. I know we are. He's my bestest friend ever. I'll always remember him no matter what!___**

Below, she had drawn her face and his.

He sighed and looked up. Mrs Tan was looking at him, smiling sadly.

~*~

Four months later…

He couldn't take it. Syaoran was sick of the orphanage. Everything had taken a turn for the worst. No one had ever liked him. He knew that.

Now he was lonely. Sakura was gone, and he was alone.

Syaoran looked around cautiously, bag slung over his shoulder. It was midnight and his hand was poised over the doorknob of the front door.

He turned it and ran out, silent on his rubber soles. He was out. Now he would find Sakura. And then he wouldn't be lonely anymore.

The world outside was dark and it was raining heavily. He stumbled over a few tree roots and he looked around, lost. Where did he go now?

He wandered onto the deserted street, under the glow of the street lamps and he looked around. He was so confused.

There was a beam of light heading for him. He rubbed his eyes and turned just in time to see a huge vehicle looming straight for him.

The next thing he knew, he had been flung to the grass a distance away from the street.

~*~

Li Yelan gasped. Her chauffeur gasped as well.

"Oh my. **We just killed someone!**"

She got out of the limousine in a hurry and made her way to the still from on the grass, her chauffeur holding a huge black umbrella over her.

She knelt down and studied the boy's face in the glow of the lamps. He was very handsome even as a child and his messy chestnut hair fell over his eyes. He had minor scratched on his arms and legs. She checked for his pulse. It was string and present.

"Thank god we were slowing down when we hit him. Quick, get the poor boy into the car. He's freezing!"

They carried him into the car and drove off.

~*~

Syaoran woke up to see four blurred faces looking at him.

"He's alive!"

"Kawaii!"

"Eee!"  
  


"Helloooo!"

Syaoran sat up at once and stared at the unfamiliar faces around him.

"Where am I? … Sakura?"

He looked around for her comforting face, but she was no where to be seen. He frowned as the four girls attacked his cheeks, pinching them relentlessly.

"That's enough girls! Hello, my dear. Are you feeling well?"

Syaoran looked up and sucked in his breath. The tall lady gliding towards him with a cup of tea looked so much like his mother. She sat down beside him on the huge, soft bed and made him sip the hot tea.

"What happened?"

His throat was dry and it hurt to talk.

"I'm so sorry! I… I knocked you down! Are you all right? Did anything break?"

He blinked as the lady started attacking him too, inspecting his limbs and face and hair and head.

He nodded furiously. "I… I'm fine."

"What is your name? Where do you live, my dear? We'll send you home in the morning."

Syaoran felt a lump in his throat. He looked away. _Sakura…_

"I am Syaoran. I come from an orphanage. I'm an orphan."

The lady looked at him, her eyes understanding. She pulled him into a tight hug. "Then you will stay with us… Li Syaoran."

He pulled away and looked up at the woman.

"You mean…?"

The four girls dashed forward. "We're adopting him? Eeeee! Kawaiiii!"

Yelan looked at him. "Would you like to stay with us, my son?"

Syaoran looked at her face, then he looked around at the four girls.

"Eee!"

"A brother!"

"Kawaii! Kawaii! Kawaii!"

"Syaoran is such a kawaii name!"

He noticed that his head was resting against Yelan's, and that her hands were around him, rocking him gently. Just like his mother used to do.

He closed his eyes and leaned back. And nodded.

He belonged here.

The next thing he knew, four pairs of arms were strangling him and were all over him.

~*~

Ow. That hurts. Too much typing D Oh well, enjoy. Six reviews = update, maybe :D

~3 ash

www.candied.net/ash


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